K.H. Shearer, secretary of the Retail Merchants’ Association of Westfield, N.Y., has proved the effectiveness of newspaper advertising in stopping the invasion of the mail order houses and the house-to-house peddlers.
Mr. Shearer, after giving the mail order problem considerable thought, decided to use the local newspaper, The Republican, to protect the local trade. He felt sure the problem could be solved by the use of paid space, if the space bought was used intelligently. Naturally the newspaper publisher’s sympathy was with the local merchants. An idea of the type of matter used may be gathered from the following, clipped from the columns of the Republican:
“A certain house has for some time been sending to what they term a ‘select list’ their advertising and telling of the wonderful values they offer and how much you can save by buying ‘direct by mail’ and how much more the same article would cost you from any merchant.
“One of our local merchants received some of their advertising covering a ‘special made traveling bag’ at $14.75 and recognized it to be a bag similar to some sold by them at $12.85. One of the bags was ordered from the mail order house for $14.75 and when received and compared with the local firm’s bags at $12.85, the consensus of opinion of a number of local people who examined the bag was that the local bag was superior and worth more than the mail order bag.
“Get this now. Direct by mail, $14.75. Local merchant, $12.85.
“It is true that the mail order houses at times put out ‘special leaders’ or inducements at lower prices, but the next time you get ready to send off a mail order, first take your list to your local merchant and ask him for his prices. And remember these are prices on goods you see and feel and you know just what you get beforehand.
“Another class of ‘direct to you’ firms are those that sell through canvassers. The latter tell you they eliminate the middleman’s profit.
“They don’t tell you they are under a county or district manager, and he in turn is responsible to a state manager, and he to the general sales manager. Each one of these different managers gets his share of the sale, so in reality there is much more expense connected with selling direct-to-consumer articles than in selling articles in local retail stores, which are classified by peddlers and ‘middlemen.’
“These things are well worth considering. Take hosiery, for instance. Peddlers will show you how you can run a nail file across the hose and not break a thread. Then they ask you to try to break the threads by pulling the hose with another man. These same ‘tricks’ can be done with any pair of socks or stockings. Don’t be fooled by their claims of superior merchandise.”
An editorial showing the value of trading with local merchants was recently published in the Westfield Republican and attracted a large amount of attention from merchants, business men and editors, as well as from the public. It read:
‘Who is he? The home merchant. Who is he?
“He is the chap who gives you credit when you are financially broke, who carries your account until you are able to pay.
“He is the chap who gives you back your money or makes exchanges when you are not satisfied with what you have bought.
“He is the chap who meets you at the door with a handshake and lets you out with a message to the kids and a real ‘come again, good-by.’
“He is the chap whose clerks live in the home town and spend their money with you and other local people.
“He is the chap who helps support the churches and charitable organizations and talks for the home town and boosts for it every day in the year.
“He is the chap who visits you when you are sick, sends flowers to your family when you die, and follows your body out among the trees and tombs, as far as human feet may travel with the dead.
“He is the home merchant—your neighbor—your friend—your helper in time of need. “Don’t you think you ought to trade with him and be his friend and his helper in the time of his need?
“Don’t you think that every dollar you send out of our town for merchandise is sent to strangers—to men who never spend a dollar here? You don’t save much, frequently nothing, when you send your money out of town. And don’t you know that the growth and prosperity of this town depends very largely upon the success and prosperity of the home merchants? Out-of-town people judge our city by the appearance of our stores and the degree of enterprise shown by our merchants. And our home merchants cannot succeed unless homefolks give them loyal support.”
From the front page of The Roxboro Courier, J.W. Noell, Editor and Publisher, Wednesday evening, Aug. 12, 1925
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073208/1925-08-12/ed-1/seq-1/
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